Sugarbeet News

In late June, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a Farm Bill that continues America’s no-cost sugar policy. Duane Maatz, Executive Director of the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association, joins the Sugar Beet Report to discuss the policies surrounding sugar beet production.

Recurring powdery mildew appeared early; CLS has been intensifying in recent years.

Powdery mildew and Cercospora Leaf Spot have been found in some southern and eastern Idaho sugar beet fields. Capital Press File

The Pacific Northwest Pest Alert Network in late June notified sugar beet growers in southwest Idaho and eastern Oregon about powdery mildew, Cercospora Leaf Spot and the looper insect.Capital Press

The advisories did not worry Wendell Robinson, agricultural manager for grower-owned cooperative Amalgamated Sugar’s western region.

“At this point, everything is manageable and treatable,” he said.

Robinson said beet fields should remain healthy overall if growers stay aware of pest and disease threats, and know how to treat them.

A crop consultant with J.R. Simplot Co. found powdery mildew in fields near Adrian, Ore., and Parma, Idaho, a June 23 alert said. Staff with Amalgamated Sugar confirmed the finding.

The alert said several fungicides are available to treat powdery mildew, and that applications should be repeated every two to three weeks depending on the disease pressure and chemistry used. A network publication said the fungus — whose spores can blow in from plants that carried over from winter, including previously infected seed beets — causes small white patches on both leaf surfaces. Widespread in several Western states for more than 40 years, it is often treated with sulfur dust.

Powdery mildew is “more or less a recurring problem we are having in the Treasure Valley” of southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon, said Amalgamated Sugar Plant Health Manager Oliver Neher.

“Most of the time we see it in early July and it moves from west to east, he said. “We are seeing it this year a little bit early.”

Neher does not expect powdery mildew to be more of a problem than usual. Timely application of fungicide makes it fairly easy to control, he said.

The network on June 25 advised beet growers to start scouting for CLS as temperatures rise, beet field rows start closing and irrigation stays intense. Favorable conditions for the fungus that causes CLS materialize when average nighttime temperatures exceed 60 degrees and humidity is 90 percent or higher for at least five hours, the alert said.

An increase in fungicide resistance makes proper chemistry rotation important in treating for CLS, the alert said. It recommended consulting with Amalgamated field staff.

Sugar beet growers can control CLS by applying fungicide in a timely manner and by not over-watering crops, Robinson said.

CLS was not a major problem in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon until four to five years ago, Neher said.

“We saw a shift in temperatures and irrigation methods,” he said. As more irrigators used sprinkler pivots and hand lines, the moisture part of the equation became more favorable for the fungus that causes CLS, he said.

Last year saw many very overcast days with high relative humidity. “We even saw CLS in furrow-irrigated fields, where it is not so common,” Neher said.

If this year’s wildfire season is active, smoke conditions could increase relative humidity and in turn keep conditions favorable for CLS as leaves stay moist longer, he said.

Also June 25, the network said Amalgamated Sugar reported that loopers, which are minor leaf-feeding pests controllable with biological or chemical means, were found in fields in the Caldwell, Idaho, area.

Robinson said the small, worm-like loopers often are controlled by applying an insecticide in conjunction with a fungicide.

A loader digs into a 120,000-ton pile of beets that was hard-frozen with ventilation, then covered with insulation, and finally “shrink-wrapped” with plastic. About 1.5 feet of deteriorated beets on the tops of piles insulate the rest, which is frozen to the top. Photo taken June 5, 2018, at Wahpeton, N.D. (Forum News Service/Agweek/Mikkel Pates)

WAHPETON, N.D. — Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative was supposed to have been done slicing sugar beets June 5, but is expected to continue through the end of the month — perhaps into July. That's due to a large 2017 crop and an expensive equipment breakdown in March.
"Here we sit. It's June 5 and we're still slicing beets," says Kurt Wickstrom, Minn-Dak president and CEO. "I think we have 240,000 tons to slice."

The company typically tries to size the storage piles for a May 20 end-date. The board projected the longer campaign based on a 9,700-ton-per-day slice to accommodate a 30.5-ton per-acre crop.

No backup

Things were going fine until the company's diffusion tower broke down in mid-March, interrupting processing for about 13 days. That was followed by the third-warmest May on record.

A diffusion tower is a key component of the factory that extracts about 85 percent of the sugar and there is only one per factory — no backup. Beet cossettes — slices of beets — go into the bottom of the tower, which is a vessel that is about 35 feet wide and 115 feet tall. It works like a big grain auger, with flighting that slowly lifts the beet pulp up as hot water cascades down, flowing through and removing the sugar. When the pulp comes out the top, it is dried and sold as livestock feed.

When full, the tower holds 3,000 tons of compressed pulp.

"When your diffusion tower fails, your whole factory stops because you don't have a backup diffusion tower," he says. Components in the bottom third of the tower had to be replaced.

BMA, the German manufacturer who made the tower, last summer had done a detailed inspection and concluded it was in good shape. "None of us could have anticipated it," Wickstrom says of the failure. A cause has not been determined.

Wickstrom praised the Minn-Dak staff and the repair teams for getting the piece repaired in 13 days, rather than the 30-day norm. BMA had a technician on-site within 36 hours of the failure.

BMA air-freighted a new set of bottom screens from Germany to fit the factory's unique size. Other equipment was twisted and custom-made at machine shops "from Winnipeg to Minneapolis," Wickstrom said. Two crews of 20 outside contractors were on site 24 hours a day, taking broken pieces out of the tower and putting in new pieces as they arrived.

Wickstrom was "very disappointed that it failed, but we did everything we possibly could to minimize the downside," he says.

About 130,000 tons of beets would have been processed through that down time. Minn-Dak had expected to process 2.56 million tons but now expect to slice 2.43 million to 2.46 million tons.

Another month

The good news is the beets are storing better than expected.

In mid-May, a pile at the factory that was simply covered in plastic had about a foot deep of deteriorated beets on the top — "empty carcasses" — and that insulated the beets below. Even after 90-degree days in May, the piles are "frozen to the top," insulated by a slimy layer of 1.5 feet of deteriorated beets on the surface.

The company is working on its final exterior pile and then will go to its three sheds with 80,000 tons each. Minn-Dak for the first time leased "chillers" to keep the beets in those sheds frozen. "We added a chiller system to the middle shed five weeks ago, and when we opened the doors to put the chiller in that shed, there were ice chunks on the floor," Wickstrom says.

"We had a nice cold winter to get them frozen very hard. That's certainly helping us now and paying off," he said.

Some of the cost may be covered by insurance, but final estimates on that won't come until September or October.

Last November, Minn-Dak projected a "conservative" $32.50 per ton for the 2017 crop, based on average quality sugar. The company made an interim payment June 1 based on $30 per ton for average quality beets.

He doesn't anticipate changing that payment from the $30 to $32.50 per ton range, even with the costs of the breakdown. Shareholder costs vary, and most growers can break even or better at $32 a ton, he said.

Two unknowns

The two big unknowns are whether the beets will store for 25 to 30 days and how much and how quickly Minn-Dak's insurance company will cover the multi-million dollar repairs. "It's obviously a very large claim," Wickstrom says, but the company insures other beet cooperatives and "we're optimistic they'll be fair."

The delayed slice campaign will mean the company's 2018 crop harvest date will be around Sept. 18. Over the past five years, the harvest at times has started as early as late August.

Typically, harvest starts from the third week in August until mid-September, depending on crop size and development.

The co-op also cut back 2018 acres to 88,000 planted acres, down from 95,000 acres in 2017. That assumes 30-ton per-acre average yield that growers have achieved over the past three years.

American Crystal Sugar Co., based in Moorhead, Minn., completed its slice May 23. They harvested more than 12 million tons, a record, and started processing in their five factories on Aug. 17, "It was a very good storage year," said Brian Ingulsrud, vice president for agriculture. "We had a cooler than normal spring which really helped for good storage of the beets."

Colorado farmer Steve Kelly says returning to non-GMO sugar beets wouldn't be feasible in part because he'd have to hire workers to weed his fields. PHOTOS BY ESTHER HONIG / HARVEST PUBLIC MEDIA

Colorado farmer Steve Kelly brushes aside a small mound of dry yellow dirt to reveal a sugar beet seed that’s no larger than a peppercorn. It seems insignificant, but the seed is different from what he planted more than 20 years ago.

“The quality of the beet wasn’t as good and yield and everything that way wasn’t as good either,” he said.

Now all but 5 percent of sugar beet seeds in the U.S. are genetically modified, or GMO.

The genetically engineered sugar beet was introduced ten years ago and has allowed farmers to grow more beets on less land, the 2012 U.S. Agricultural Census said. Farmers also report using less water.

Industry experts say GMO has revolutionized sugar beet farming, but an upcoming decision from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has many farmers, Kelly included, wondering whether they’ll have to return to conventional seed.

GMO foods must be labeled by 2020 under a federal regulation. Beet sugar looks molecularly identical to any other refined sugar, but if the USDA decides it and all the products its used in get a GMO label, sugar cane will get a leg up because it’s a non-GMO crop — hurting sugar beet farmers and possibly raising consumer prices.

Sugar beets’ hold on consumers

Consumers may be unfamiliar with the sucrose-rich tubers; they’re not found in the produce aisle. But it’s likely you’ve eaten it: 55 percent of all sugar produced in the U.S. is from beets — refined into white granulated sugar — and it’s used to make everything from candy to bread.

Major companies like General Mills and Hershey have already replaced beet sugar with sugar cane in a number of products as a part of their “non-GMO” advertising to try to appeal to the 39 percent of Americans who, according to the Pew Research Center, believe GMO foods are unhealthy.

Rebecca Larson is the chief scientist with the Western Sugar Cooperative, an organization that’s collectively owned by more than 800 sugar beet farmers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. She said it’s “just not fair” if uninformed consumers will see a GMO label and assume that means the product is unsafe or “better for the environment and therefore more sustainable.”

“We as a community need to go out and educate about how that can be completely the opposite,” she said.

But opponents to GMOs argue that labeling will give consumers more transparency about how a food was grown. Farmers use herbicides, namely glyphosate, on GMO crops, which Patty Lovera from the nonprofit group Food and Water Watch believes are bad for the environment and people’s health.

“There are farmers and farm workers involved in handling these chemicals. There’s runoff into our bodies of water,” she said, but didn’t have specifics on the sugar beet industry itself

Since adopting GMO sugar beets, Kelly said he’s used less herbicide on his fields in Greeley. The conventional sugar beets he used to grow required a cocktail of three different herbicides that had to be sprayed three to four times a year, “and a lot of times it didn’t work,” he said.

If the USDA decides to label sugar beet products as GMO and farmers returned to non-GMO beets, the effects may be felt at the grocery store.

A 2014 study found that if consumers prefer products without a GMO label, the cost of food will rise as companies purchase more non-GMO ingredients, which tend to cost more because they have lower yields.

Plus, ditching GMO seeds would require Kelly to hire workers to help weed his fields.

BETASEED, INC. announces a 2018 Scholarship Winner in the Western Sugar South area. Kelli Horstman was awarded a $500 Scholarship. Brian Specht, sales representative with Betaseed, presented the check.

Kelli graduated this spring and will be attending Nebraska Wesleyan University to pursue a degree in Nursing. Kelli is the daughter of Rex and Kay Horstman. Rex and his brother Rick farm near Hemingford, Nebraska. Kelli is involved in various sports, SCCLA, CSC Scholastics, Health Professionals Club, the Student Council and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Betaseed awards annual scholarships to students to help further their college education. The scholarship committee selected Kelli based on the essay she submitted on “The History and Future of Sugarbeets”. Betaseed is proud to support the region’s youth and wishes Kelli a very successful college career.

Betaseed, Inc., headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, is North America’s premier sugarbeet seed company. From our start in 1970, Betaseed has maintained a longstanding commitment to the beet sugar industry, with research and seed production operations in several states and marketing seed to all sugarbeet markets. Our mission is to develop the best performing seed products and services through innovative people, plant breeding, and seed technology.

Tyler Seim of Grand Forks has launched a new crafts distillery, making vodka from sugar beets in an operation based at 4051 Gateway Drive. Seim began the Red Pine Distillery in February, and his products have been available in retail businesses since March, he said.

His business is heavily focused on supplying products to liquor stores in Grand Forks and Fargo, but also has retail customers in Devils Lake, Minot and Williston, he said.

He estimates that he is producing about 50 to 75 cases of vodka a month, the amount that he likes to have on hand to fill orders from his distributor, he said.

But he has the capacity to produce 150 to 200 cases a month, he said. Each case holds 12, 750-milliliter bottles.

The process of producing a batch of vodka takes about three weeks, he said.

He obtains sugar beets from David Thompson of Thompson Brothers, a farm group located 10 miles north of East Grand Forks, next to the farm of his parents, Darren and Debbie Nelson, where he grew up.

In his distillery, Seim also uses a concentrated sugar beet syrup from American Crystal Sugar in Hillsboro, N.D., where he is employed full time as an engineer.

Seim sells his products to Johnson Brothers, a distributor in Fargo that has also introduced his products to its restaurant and bar clients, he said.

He is experimenting with gin and another product that's similar to rum, also with a sugar beet base, he said, and is planning to venture into the production of whiskey and brandy, also using sugar beets.

Seim earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from UND in 2015.

"A big part of the curriculum was distillation, the separation of chemicals," he said.

That sparked his interest in the production of beer, wine and spirits and "grains, grapes, apples—whatever you can ferment."

His new business combines his interest in distillation with the use of agricultural products that are prevalent in this area.

"It was something I found interesting, as far as the product goes," Seim said.

He's intrigued by "the variety of products you can make out of the same ingredients."

North Dakota, Michigan & Idaho Sugarbeet Planting Progress Now Ahead of Average

The USDA released the Crop Progress Report for the week of May 6th. In the report, planting progress data for the country’s top four sugarbeet producing states were listed.

Sugarbeet planting across the country has seen tremendous progress over the last week. Percentage-wise, Michigan had the biggest gains. The Wolverine State now has 80% of his projected sugarbeet acres planted, ahead of last year’s pace of 46% and the five-year average of 59%. Last week, Michigan had just 13% of its acres planted.

North Dakota has crossed the halfway point at 66% completed. Despite being two percentage points behind last year’s pace, N.D. is now ahead of the five year average of 53%.

Idaho is nearing completion of its sugarbeet planting season. Ninety-two percent of the Gem State’s projected acres are in the ground, ahead of the five-year average by one percentage point. Last year at this point, Idaho had 87% of its beets planted.

Minnesota, the largest sugarbeet producing state, is sitting at 50% completed. That is up from just 10% last week, but behind the five-year average of 57% and last year’s mark of 74%.

Stay tuned to SugarPub.com throughout the growing season for news covering all U.S. sugarbeet producing regions!

Jason Thorson uses a grease gun on his 36-row sugar beet planter in the yard of the family farm Monday. Thorson farms with his brother, Chad Thorson, far left, in Polk County. The Thorson brothers started planting beets last Friday and say the start is a little later than usual but some years have been later. Austin Koenig, center, works for the Thorsons. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

Red River Valley farmers are optimistic about getting crops in the ground after cold and wet conditions delayed them from hitting the fields.

Producers started planting crops this weekend in northwest Minnesota and northeast North Dakota, taking advantage of mild temperatures and drier conditions.

Chad Thorson of rural East Grand Forks started Friday and will plant soybeans, sugar beets, wheat and edible beans this season.

"Everybody is excited to get out of the shop and out of the yard and into the field," he said, adding conditions are good for seeding and the soil has enough moisture for planting.

Winter weather stretched into spring, bringing colder-than-normal temperatures for early April. Farmers in the Valley typically start planting small grains in mid-April, followed by corn and soybeans in early or mid-May. Snow didn't start to melt until mid-April, pushing the start date for planting season back.

Traill County saw more snow than most parts of northeast North Dakota, which, along with the Goose River, caused overland flooding in fields last week, said Alyssa Scheve, the North Dakota State University extension agent for Traill County.

The waters have since receded significantly from the fields, Scheve said Monday, and farmers likely will get in the fields later this week.

"We're pretty optimistic with the farming situation," she said when asked if farmers feel they will get all of their crops in this season.

Thorson agreed, adding most farmers have the equipment to get their crops in quickly.

"Conditions are changing fast," Thorson said. "We got a good start. ... If the weather holds, we'll have everything in in a timely fashion."

Farmers also started planting last week in Pembina County, said Samantha Lahman, extension agent for Pembina County. Little snow fell this winter in the county, and farmers would like to see rain, she said.

"We need some moisture to dampen everything down," she said.

Showers and thunderstorms were possible for Monday night into Tuesday morning for the Valley, with the greatest chance for severe weather in southeast North Dakota and central Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the week should bring sunny skies with high temperatures in the mid-60s to low 70s near Grand Forks, meteorologists forecast.

Rain could return this weekend, the weather service said.

North Dakota farmers are projected to plant 6.4 million acres of spring wheat this year, a 20 percent increase from last year, according to a March 29 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The latest projections also estimate 7.1 million acres of soybeans will be planted in the state, which is unchanged from last year.

Corn is set to be down 11 percent from last year, with North Dakota farmers expected to plant about 3 million acres this season. About 199,000 acres in the state will be dedicated to sugar beets, the report said.

In Minnesota, farmers are set to plant 7.5 million acres of corn this season, the lowest amount planted in the state since 2006, the USDA said. About 7.9 acres will be dedicated to soybeans, or about 3 percent less than last year, according to the agency's estimates for Minnesota. Spring wheat likely will see a 38 percent increase in planting, with Minnesota farmers estimated to dedicate 1.6 million acres to the crop.

Farmers also are expected to plant more sugar beets than last year—the USDA projects almost 423,000 acres will be set aside for the crop in Minnesota.

RUTH - On March 3, 1960, a little more than one month before his 42nd birthday, Chester "Chet" Leppek received a letter from Russell S. Wait, a field manager for Michigan Sugar Company working out of Croswell.

"Dear Chet," the letter began. "I would like to take this opportunity of congratulating you on the delivery of the largest sugar beet at Port Hope under the 1959 Large Beet Contest.' In fact this was the largest beet delivered at the Croswell Plant."

Leppek's 22 ½-pound sugarbeet that year won him 100 pounds of sugar, but did not come with recognition at the company's annual meeting.

Change was in the air

"This is the last year the 'Large Beet Contest' will be held …" the letter continued. "The reason for this is that the company has found that beets of this size generally do not have as high a sugar content as the smaller beet. With this in mind, every effort is being made to grow a larger number of beets per acre."

To this day, that letter remains in Leppek's possession - a proud keepsake from his days on the farm and a reflection of the many changes he has been witness to over the past century, especially those pertaining to agriculture and technology.

The years fly by

Leppek was born April 16, 1918, in the small Huron County community of Parisville, near Ruth. He was schooled through the eighth grade in a one-room schoolhouse about a mile and a half from his home. Leppek Road, which runs into Parisville, is named for his uncle, Walter Leppek, who owned the hotel and bar in town and frequently put up visiting pheasant hunters for the night.

The son of Frank and Clara Leppek, he grew up on a farm along with his brother Ira, sister Vivian and half-brother Tyrus Mzyk. Frank Leppek was in the threshing business and lived to be 92 years old. Clara Leppek lived to be 87 and Vivian, who lives in Ubly, is set to celebrate her 99th birthday in July.

To help put Leppek's life into perspective, the day of his birth is the same day the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, executed Czar Nicholas II and his family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, bringing an end to the three-century Romanov Dynasty.

Also on that date, the United States Congress passed the Sedition Act, a law that, according to history.com, "Imposed harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war; insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military; agitating against the production of necessary war materials; or advocating, teaching or defending any of these acts."

The act was repealed by Congress in 1921.

Sugarbeetspaid the bills

After spending his youth working on his family farm, Leppek married Martha Grifka, a farm girl from Michigan's Thumb, in 1940 at St. John's Church in Ubly. They had met as teenagers at a local dance hall, an activity they continued for years to come. The Hungry Four band from Bay City played at their wedding.

The couple had four children - Nancy, born in 1941; Tom in 1944; Carol in 1946; and Doug in 1950. The family grew over the years to include four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Martha died on Oct. 15, 2016, at age 98, just 11 days before the couple would celebrate its 76th wedding anniversary.

In 1947, the Leppeks started their own farm in Sigel Township near Parisville. They grew hay, wheat, oats, navy beans and corn and had some livestock as well. Chet affectionately gives much of the credit for the farm's success over the years to his wife.

"She was half the farm," he said.

In 1952, Leppek began growing sugarbeets for Michigan Sugar Company and he later served on the Grower Board from 1964 to 1984, stepping down shortly after selling his farm to the Maurer family.

As a kid, Leppek had used a horse and plow on the family farm. When he started on his own, he said he used a one-row McCormick beet harvesting machine.

"If I dug 50 tons per day that was a good day," he said. "Now, they do that in 15 minutes."

At the height of his operation, Leppek grew 40 acres of sugarbeets on his 300-acre farm. He said he averaged about 10 to 20 tons per acre.

"Sugarbeets paid the bills," he said. "The rest of the crops took care of all the other stuff."

Highlights of Leppek's life of farming dot his memory to this day:

Like a period of time in the 1960s when Michigan Sugar Company tried to drum up additional interest in growing sugarbeets out in the Thumb.

"We needed to keep the Croswell plant open," Leppek recalled.

And the 1980 growing season.

"It was a year of tremendous rains," he said. "We had lots of water in the fields. We left some beets in the ground that year."

Through it all, Leppek said he really enjoyed farming.

"It was hard … a lot of work," he said. "There were good and bad years, but overall it was very rewarding."

Celebrating a century

Leppek has lived through the Roaring '20s, the Great Depression, World War II, the birth of rock and roll, the Civil Rights Movement, and the dawn of the age of technology.

What's the secretto a long life?

"You'll have your ups and downs," he says. "There's no secret but to keep active … and three meals per day."

Small and large gatherings were planned to celebrate Leppek's 100th birthday.

He celebrated with his closest family and friends on April 14. The "big party" is planned for June 23, at the Knights of Columbus Council No. 1546 Hall in Bad Axe, where Leppek is an honorary member.

"Everybody's invited," joked Debbie Leppek, Chet's daughter-in-law.

He'll probably play some cards - euchre is his favorite game - and he'll likely remain as active as possible at St. Isidore Parish in Ruth, where he is an honorary member of the Usher's Club.

But there's one other activity on his to-do list that might surprise you.

"I started golfing at age 65 and the game really got into me," Leppek said as a little sparkle enters his eyes. "If the good Lord lets me, I'll get out there again this season."

A newly emerged sugar beet seedling stretches toward the sun April 19, 2016, in a field near Murtaugh.

TWIN FALLS — Cold and windy conditions in spring are hard on emerging sugar beets and this year has taken a toll.

Greg Cameron, who farms north of Rupert and also sells beet seed, has had to replant about 550 acres due to both frost and wind. Temperatures dropped to 19 degrees in mid-April just as beets were emerging.

“It just smoked them,” Cameron said. “There was no guessing about whether to replant them or not.”

He’s been getting calls from farmers looking for seed to replant. One call was from a farmer who had been planting potatoes and had just gotten back to check his beet fields.

Cameron says it’s too early to tell how many acres will have to be replanted across the Magic Valley due to strong winds or frost. He expects the number will be higher than last year but not catastrophic thanks to late March snow storms and cold that delayed planting.

Dean Stevenson also raises beets in the Rupert area but doesn’t start planting until later to avoid replanting as much as possible. He didn’t start planting until April 15 so his seed was still safely underground when the frost hit later that week.

To protect the vulnerable seedlings, he has stopped plowing following small grain to leave more residue on the soil. Now that he has finished planting, Stevenson has starting to irrigate beets but nothing has emerged yet.

Even though he felt like he was behind this spring, Murtaugh farmer Matt Nail was surprised to find he had started on the exact same day as last year.

“My beets are actually off to a good start,” said Nail, who planted April 2.

About 60 percent of his beets are up now but none had emerged before April 18’s hard frost, when temperatures dropped to the mid-20s at his farm.

“I lucked out on that one,” he said.

Beet farmers must balance the need to plant early to maximize sugar content and yields while minimizing the risk of replanting thanks to frost or high winds. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Idaho growers had planted 66 percent of their beet acres by April 23, compared with the five-year average of 73 percent. Many took advantage of good weather after the report was released to finish planting.

Though several frosts occurred in April, the average daily temperature for both Twin Falls and Rupert is just 1 degree below the long-term average of 48 and 47 degrees respectively. The daily average is for a 24-hour period.

Growers are hopeful for a good growing season. Sugar content was down last year after the cold, late start. But active pile management allowed Amalgamated Sugar Co. to maintain those sugar levels.

Sugar content of stored beets usually declines around Christmas, but this winter the levels held through mid-February despite warmer than normal conditions in January and early February.

Pat Laubacher, vice president for agriculture at Amalgamated, said crop consultants walk the outside beet piles every 10 days to assess the pile health. Beets that froze during the cold weather in December were stripped off and processed first. Between 7 and 8 feet of perimeter is removed at a time to allow the beets in the center of the pile to remain undisturbed for as along as possible.

That strategy, which Amalgamated has been using for several years, allowed the company to process all beets from the exposed outside piles this year — and that should pay off for growers.

Years when few beets are discarded and sugar content remains good throughout processing often translate into higher beet payments.

“It just smoked them. There was no guessing about whether to replant them or not.” Greg Cameron, Rupert sugar beet grower who lost 550 acres of seedlings to frost and wind

BEYOND THE BEETS: Cody Bingham stands in his sugarbeet field near Jerome, Idaho. He and wife Liz were one of 10 finalist couples for the National Outstanding Young Farmer of the year award. Photos by Millie May Photography.

One trip 10 years ago changed the way Cody Bingham sees the agriculture industry. To this day, he draws on those experiences when making decisions for the family farm in Jerome, Idaho, and the nation’s sugarbeet industry.

Like many young producers today, before Bingham returned to the farming operation his parents encouraged him to pursue higher education. Little did he realize the quest for knowledge would take him across the ocean for a master’s degree in international food and agribusiness from the Royal Agricultural University in England.

Adventure in education
The Jerome, Idaho, native first attended Utah State University and obtained degrees in both agribusiness and agricultural systems technology. “My thought process was when I finished high school, I would get an education and come back and help expand the family farm,” he says. “The farm was going to get bigger. My dad and I would both be successful there, and then I could transition it to my future children.”

Millie May Photography

FARM DECISIONS: Idaho sugarbeet grower Cody Bingham harvests his 2017 crop. After a study abroad program, the young farmer realizes the impact overseas production and markets have on his bottom line.

Then a unique opportunity presented itself. Utah State offered a joint venture with the Royal Agricultural University, and Bingham signed up for the exchange program.

“It was an opportunity to go overseas and study international agribusiness,” he says. “I would be learning about different ag production systems and how others do business.”

There, Bingham rubbed shoulders with individuals from England, Korea, Colombia, Ecuador and France. The group worked together on projects, which often led to discussions of strategy. “It was an amazing experience to learn how they would use different approaches, based on different governmental systems and different histories, leading them to approach issues and problems in a different way,” he says.

Bring it home
Bingham took his world experience and worked a few years for a large international corporate farm. But in 2010, he returned to the family farm.

The family, also including his wife, Liz, and four boys — Keegan, Oliver, Calvin and Morgan — raises corn, sugarbeets, wheat, alfalfa and carrots for seed. The family incorporates technology and conservation practices. Bingham also oversees plot research with a variety of crops, and is constantly looking for new markets for these products, both domestically and internationally. The couple was recently named one of 10 finalists in the National Outstanding Young Farmer competition.

Millie May Photography

NEW IDEAS: Embracing new technologies and production practices keeps Cody Bingham competitive in a world ag market.

From his international experience, Bingham learned to pay close attention to weather, markets and policy in places like Argentina, Brazil and Australia. “You have to be aware and watching, because what is happening there impacts the price you receive on the farm,” he adds. “Going overseas enabled me to understand other systems and their perspectives — what they are looking at when they see our numbers from the USDA. It is a global system now with almost every commodity. You have to be aware.”

Open your mind
Understanding the global ag market helps more than just on the farm. Bingham engages in the industry, volunteering to lobby Washington, D.C., on behalf of the U.S. sugar industry with the American Sugarbeet Growers Association.

Drawing from his experience with international colleagues shapes his role as a director of the Northside Sugarbeet Growers Association. “You have to be willing to go into meetings with an open mind,” he says. “You must be willing to see the other side. At times, what is good for you may not be good for everyone moving forward. You must listen to new ideas. Some may work out.”

Bingham says young producers should consider an international agriculture trip to broaden their view of the agriculture industry. However, he adds if farmers do not want to travel overseas, they should at least consider traveling outside of their own state.

“Take those opportunities that get you out of your normal system, so that they expose you to something else,” he says. “You may come away with a few new ideas on equipment and farming practices that will change the way you farm in the future.”

2018 sugarbeet planting remains behind schedule for most of the country.

The USDA released the Crop Progress Report for the week of April 16th. In the report, planting progress data for the country’s top four sugarbeet producing states were listed.

Idaho made significant progress from last week, having 47% of their crop in the ground compared to just eight percent the week before. Last year at this point, Idaho had 43% of their beets planted. The five year average is 51%.

Michigan has one percent of their beets planted. That is unchanged from last week. Their five year average for the third week of April is four percent.

Both Minnesota and North Dakota have yet to put any beets in the ground. Last year, Minnesota had 16% of their planting completed, just two percentage points shy of the five year average. North Dakota had 10% planted, which is also two percentage points behind their five year average.

afreshlook.org, much of what Bingham shares falls under the land category.

There, she spends time writing about how GMO farming allows farmers to spend less time in the field by using fewer pesticides; and limiting the trips across the field, reducing soil compaction. Ultimately, she shares how GMO seed allows the beet to grow to its full potential, yielding better and with higher sugar content.

However, she understands that too much science does not sway the conversation, so she focuses on what comes naturally — being a mom and making hard food choices for her family.

Bingham knows what it is like to go into the grocery stores and be bombarded with labels and advertisements. “It is a lot of noise,” she says. “Just having a label on a product automatically makes one pause and question if it is good for you. But moms don’t have time to be an expert on everything. So, we want them to know that as far as sugar and other GM products, they don’t have to worry.”

She spends time talking with other moms any chance she can get — from the grocery store to school parties — telling them her personal story of how biotechnology fits on her sugarbeet farm and in the kitchen. After all, Bingham uses sugar derived from sugarbeets from her own family in her cooking.

“I would never tell another mother that they need to have our product just because of a bottom line,” she says. “I know it’s safe. I know how it is put together. It is grown right here on my farm.”

British Sugar warns late drilling could hit sugar beet yields

Sugar beet processor British Sugar is warning the delay in drilling of this spring’s crop due to the wet weather could affect yields, with the planned crop area seen similar to the previous year.

Cold, wet weather has meant drilling only really started after Easter, and just the lightest land has been sown as growers eagerly await drier weather which is forecast for this week.

“Looking ahead, there has been a good take-up by growers of sugar beet contracts for 2018-19, the area contracted is in line with 2017-18, but delays experienced in drilling the new crop may affect yields this year,” the group said.

The group also trimmed its forecast of the 2017 harvest to 1.37m tonnes of sugar from a previous estimate of 1.38m tonnes, but this is still well ahead of the previous year’s crop of 900,000t.

The record overall harvest was in 2014, when the group produced 1.45m tonnes of sugar from 116,000ha.

Record yields

The group has also reported record yields from the 2017 harvest of 83.4t/ha beating 2014’s previous yield of 79.8t/ha. Some 8.9m tonnes of beet were processed from 3,500 growers by British Sugar from more than 105,000ha of beet grown in 2017, producing the 1.37m tonnes of sugar.

The sugar beet harvesting campaign closed just before Easter when British Sugar’s four plants – Cantley and Wissington in Norfolk, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk and Newark in Nottinghamshire – stopped receiving any more beet.

British Sugar made its comments as its parent company Associated British Foods reported a 1% rise in half-year adjusted pretax profits to £628m for the 24-week period to 3 March.

American Crystal of Moorhead, Minn., is a farmer-owned cooperative in which members purchase shares, which offer the right and obligation to deliver beets. Shares typically are bought and sold from harvest until spring.

FNC Ag Stock is a subsidiary of Farmers National Company. It helps facilitate sales of agricultural stocks that are non-exchange listed, including ethanol and sugar beet shares, including American Crystal.

In the fall of 2017, the FNC Ag Stock's initial sale was in mid-September. Sales started at $2,725 per share. The last sale so far was in mid-March at $3,100 per share. FNC Ag Stock was involved in transfers of 2,000 shares with an average price of $2,943 per share, which is about average for recent years.

The earliest FNC Ag Stock has seen sales shut off has been the middle of March. Last year some shares were sold until May 9 or 10. The latest has been May 12.

"All transfers require board approval from American Crystal," Menke says. Current sugar prices are allowing producers to make money.

$48/TON OUTLOOK

One factor strengthening prices was that the American Crystal board in March increased their gross beet payment projection from $46 per ton to $48 per ton for 2018 beets. Sugar price projections don't always happen this time of year. Favorable marketing and a cold spring that helps with beet storage were factors in the increase.

One wild card in this year's sales is that, starting in 2018, American Crystal is requiring that all parties in a limited partnership must sign a notarized personal guarantee to American Crystal.

Five years ago Crystal went from a strong beet payment to a weak payment, due to market shifts. In one-year limited partnerships, some growers told their shareholder limited partners they wanted to not plant beets. Beet co-ops need to cover about $500 to $600 in fixed costs.

"Things needed to be tightened so everyone knew their responsibility," Menke says of the rationale. "Limited partners — with how the co-op laws are written — need to be at risk. The personal guarantee was created to make sure that everybody has skin in the game."

The new requirement seemed to have only "limited" impact, he says.

FILLING CAPACITY

Another factor buoying beet shares demand is that as beet yields have increased, co-op members have been allowed to plant a smaller percentage of share acres.

Originally, a share of beet stock equalled one acre of production. In 2012, farmers could plant up to 88 percent of their share numbers. In 2018, farmers will be allowed to plant 73 to 78 percent of their share numbers.

Consequently, some farmers seem to be buying shares to help increase their farm's acreage closer to their original producing capacity, but aren't necessarily looking to expand significantly. Also, other commodity prices have become weaker.

"It's not to say that farmers can't make money on other crops this year, but beets have kind of returned to their prominence in the Red River Valley," Menke says. "Beets have made a lot of farms (financially successful) over the last 30, 40 or 50 years."

Waterhemp is a pigweed that's moved into the Red River Valley from the south. It germinates a little later than lambsquarter, kochia and the more common redroot pigweed. It germinates and emerges about May 15 in a normal year in the southern Red River Valley and west central Minnesota.

Waterhemp plants are sometimes glyphosate-resistant and sometimes not. Each surviving plant can produce thousands of seed. Peters uses glyphosate for other weeds and for non-resistant waterhemp, but "you have to plan for the resistant population," he says.

Where waterhemp is "the primary concern," Peters wants farmers to consider "staging" their planting. Within reason, that means rather than planting everything and then going back and applying herbicides, the farmer plants a field, immediately applies pre-emergence weed control, then repeats elsewhere.

"I'm afraid that if we plant everything and then focus on the herbicide application later on, I'm afraid we'll get to the same place — caught in between where weeds start to germinate and emerge before we have activated product," Peters says.

Interviewed at his NDSU office on April 11, Peters noted that was the date farmers could plant sugar beets in North Dakota and be eligible for full crop insurance indemnities and the date many farmers had planted beets the year before.

"I will be surprised if we have many acres seeded at all during the month of April," he says.

WEEDS WON'T WAIT

"Our strategy in sugar beet has been to allow the sugar beet to get to the two-leaf stage before we make our herbicide application," Peters says. If sugar beets were planted in the normal April 15 time frame, the two-leaf stage is about May 5 to May 10. That's not going to happen this year.

"Sugar beets aren't the right growth stage, but waterhemp is still going to germinate and emerge at the same time. Because of that, we have to change our plan."

"The bottom line is that farmers need to use a pre-emergence herbicide," Peters says. For beets there are three or four options to consider, ranging from products incorporated into the soil to products applied to the soil at planting time and activated by rain.

Peters says 35 percent of growers attending sugar beet grower seminars in January and February said waterhemp is "their most important production challenge. It keeps creeping up," both in percentage and distance north, Peters says. "I get a lot of questions in the Grand Forks, N.D., and Crookston, Minn., area."

Waterhemp bedevils every acre in Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative country at Renville, Minn., and every acre at Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative in Wahpeton, N.D. It's also in an area from Ada, Minn., to Hillsboro, N.D., and southward in the American Crystal Sugar Co., area of Moorhead, Minn.

"One hundred percent of the farmers are using this concept we call 'lay-by,' where they apply a soil-applied herbicide that is post-emergence to sugar beet and pre-emergence to waterhemp" weeds, Peters says. Roughly half of the sugar beet farmers in waterhemp areas use a pre-emergent herbicide — applied immediately after planting, before the beets emerge.

DICAMBA ISSUE

It doesn't matter if a farmer is growing sugar beets, soybeans or corn, Peters says:

"Waterhemp doesn't care. It's going to germinate at the same time. The mindset for the corn grower is, 'I'm going to use a pre-emergence herbicide.' The mindset for the soybean grower is a combination of both. Some see the value of pre-emergence herbicides. I would guess the majority do not and don't use a pre-emergence product at all."

He says the introduction of dicamba-tolerant soybean seeds created an impression that post-emergent weed control would continue to be viable. However, Peters says the pre-emergence program is actually more consistently reliable.

Peters would argue that farmers need to use a pre-emergence herbicide in soybeans as well in 2018 because of the late spring.

"The same logic that applies to sugar beets applies to soybeans as well," he says.

THE OPPOSITION: What sugar reform activists believe should happen to the U.S Sugar Policy in the upcoming Farm Bill

By Treasure Coast Newspapers Editorial Board

You spy that bag of M&Ms in the checkout line and you're tempted. But $1.79 seems kind of steep.

In fact, it is. Most food containing American-grown sugar costs significantly more than it would if sugar prices were lower.

But sugar prices are inflated by design, a result of a federal program originally passed in 1934 to protect sugar growers from foreign competition.

For the domestic sugar industry, it's been a sweet deal indeed.

But a growing bipartisan coalition has soured on sugar policy, and might be on the cusp of forcing significant changes.

An unlikely alliance of Democrats and Republicans, free-market advocates and environmentalists, small businesses, retailers and food manufacturers are backing the Sugar Policy Modernization Act, which promises to roll back artificially high U.S. sugar prices by reforming price supports.

U.S. sugar policy is protectionist, anchored in government intervention in the free market. The government sets minimum sugar prices and provides loans to sugar farmers, permitting them to repay those loans with raw sugar if prices fall below the legal floor.

Foreign imports are limited, and "sugar marketing allotments" limit the amount of domestically produced sugar that processors can sell each year, eliminating the prospect of overproduction.

Unsurprisingly, this drives up the price of sugar; American manufacturers can pay twice as much for sugar as the rest of the world.

That shows up in your grocery bill.

To be sure, current sugar policy has been beneficial for some communities in South Florida. The industry claims to support an estimated 30,000 direct and indirect jobs here, and thousands more in other sugar-growing regions of the country.

Naturally, the industry is hostile to the proposed Modernization Act, labeling it the "Sugar Farmer Bankruptcy Bill." And should the measure be included in the next five-year Farm Bill, sugar interests claim it could lead to massive oversupply, creating a collapse in prices and, ultimately, a loss of sugar production and jobs.

Much of the economy in the Glades, made up of Pahokee, Belle Glade, South Bay and Clewiston, revolves around agriculture, including the Sugar Growers Cooperative of Florida mill, seen on Feb. 28, 2017, in Belle Glade. (Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

In turn, they say, that could cause major disruption in the food-supply chain for food manufacturers and consumers.

These are legitimate concerns that must be taken seriously.

Yet there is convincing evidence that whatever the limited, regional impact the Sugar Policy Modernization Act might have here, it could be a boon for U.S. consumers on the whole.

One 2011 report concluded that if U.S. sugar prices fell by one-third, U.S. consumers could save as much as $3.5 billion.

Proponents also say it could boost overall employment, citing federal studies that suggest every sugar-processing job subsidized via artificially high U.S. sugar prices costs three American manufacturing jobs.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, 11 environmental organizations asked the Florida Democrat to support the proposal and asserted the mass production of sugar cane in the Everglades Agricultural Area "remains a great impediment" to efforts to restore the Everglades.

Via current sugar policy, "American consumers and taxpayers have lined the pockets of sugar companies," the letter states — and that has led to the inordinate political clout the industry wields here in Florida and nationwide.

The sugar industry counters these claims.

"Sugarcane farmers have been the largest private partner in Everglades restoration efforts for more than 20 years, cleaning every drop of water leaving their farms, and paying nearly $450 million in taxes to further clean water and fund research into continued restoration efforts and have given up 123,000 acres of productive farm land for restoration projects," said Judy Sanchez, spokesperson for U.S. Sugar, in response to a recent inquiry.

A message to Florida Crystals seeking comment was not returned.

Other defenders of the current sugar program cite the heavy subsidization of the sugar industry in countries like Mexico. If there's truly to be a level playing field, they say, foreign competitors must play by the same rules.

That sentiment may resonate in Washington, where President Donald Trump has enacted new tariffs, moves he claims are necessary to protect and rebuild vital domestic industries harmed by unfair foreign competition.

Yet the sugar industry has enjoyed such protection for more than 80 years. This has been good for the industry, but the drawbacks for the rest of the country are clear — and it's time, finally, for a change.

Editorials of Treasure Coast Newspapers/TCPalm are decided collectively by its Editorial Board. To respond to this editorial in a letter to the editor, email up to 300 words to TCNLetters@TCPalm.com.

FARGO — Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said a Republican push to expand work requirements for a food assistance program has brought farm bill negotiations to a standstill and endangers the sugar program and crop insurance.

Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee are pressing for a work requirement for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that would apply to able-bodied people up to age 65. The program now has work requirements for recipients ages 18 to 49.

Peterson, the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, said House Republicans' hard line on the issue is foolish in light of the fact that the Republican chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee has said he will not include the provision.

Yet the move risks unraveling a coalition that, in passing previous farm bills, has agreed to support the sugar program and crop insurance in return for support for the food assistance program.

"I think he's making a mistake," Peterson said on Tuesday, April 10, referring to Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and a proponent of extending the work requirement for SNAP. "I told the chairman this was not going to fly."

Because of the dispute over the work requirements — which prompted Democratic House leaders to instruct Peterson to stop negotiating over the new farm bill — the current farm bill likely will be extended, Peterson said.

During hearings for the current farm bill, including 23 hearings on the food assistance program, there was no support for extending the work program to those up to age 65, Peterson said. Expanding the work requirement would affect an estimated 3 million older Americans, he said, and the job training program that would accompany the work mandate would cost $7 billion.

"It's a waste of resources in my opinion," Peterson said.

The average payment under the food assistance program is $100 a month, but the work provision would require 80 hours of attendance at a job training program.

"This really isn't about training anybody," Peterson said, adding that he believes the real intent is to pressure recipients to drop out of the assistance program. "They're going after the old Republican talking points that there's a lot of lazy people," he added.

A dispute over food assistance — which accounts for 80 percent of farm bill spending — almost derailed the 2013 farm bill.

"Any effort to separate farm programs from nutrition programs threatens the rural-urban coalition that has kept the Farm Bill a bipartisan effort for years," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a statement. "Slashing nutrition assistance for vulnerable Americans is not the way to support our farmers or help those struggling to put food on the table for themselves and their families."

In 2016, there were 54,000 North Dakotans on the food assistance program. About 73 percent were families with children and 33 percent had family members who are elderly or disabled, said Heitkamp, who added that she will fight to support the needy families as well as farmers and ranchers.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., also a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, agreed with Peterson and Heitkamp that "attacks" on the nutrition program were dangerous to the farm bill's bipartisan support.

"As I travel around the state, meeting with members of my Farm Bill working group, I constantly hear how the nutrition programs are integral to the Farm Bill — including from groups like the Farmers Union and the Farm Bureau," Smith said in a statement. "Any attacks to the nutrition title threatens the entire Farm Bill. The Farm Bill has historically been very bipartisan, and I hope that we can continue that tradition."

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., also a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said both nutrition assistance and recipient accountability are important — but so is reaching an agreement.

"Our goals for SNAP are to help low-income individuals who need it for assistance, but also to make sure the program has good accountability and encourages self-sufficiency," Hoeven said in a statement. "Job requirements where appropriate can be part of it, but we need to find agreement and move forward on a strong farm bill."

Snow and below average temperatures continue to keep most Michigan farmers out of fields. The USDA says only 1.5 days were suitable for field work last week.

Rob Clark with the Michigan Sugar Company tells Brownfield about 6,000 acres of sugarbeets have been planted. “Out in the Thumb, which is our largest growing area, our growers have reported continued frozen ground conditions and Mother Nature has certainly not helped a lot the past week. It’s been very cold and we got some snow.” He says this year growers expect to plant about 157,000 acres of sugarbeets with a majority of planting expected to pick up this week and next.

The winter wheat cropped declined two percent to 63 percent good to excellent. The USDA says 96 percent of topsoil and 95 percent of subsoil have adequate to surplus moisture levels.

Michigan’s fruit crop remains mostly dormant with some damage reported in the Southwest to peaches and wine grapes.

A spokesperson for the Michigan Sugar Company reports sugar content remained high during the 2017 season despite challenging growing conditions.

Rob Clark tells Brownfield the co-op harvested 7,000 fewer acres which was tied to marketing decisions and Mother Nature. “Mother Nature gave us a lot of rain and then no rain. In the end it impacted the total tonnage for us in a negative way.”

He says while production declined more than 20 percent from the year before, the company was able to keep pace with the previous year’s sugar production because of high quality beets. This year Michigan Sugar has increased planted acres to 2016 levels.

Clark says processing investments will also help keep pace with increasing production. “Last year we invested more than $20 million dollars into our four facilities in Bay City, Caro, Croswell and Sebewaing and this year is no expectation. We’re planning to invest another $17.1 million.” He says the co-op has some of the oldest beet factories in the nation and it’s important to invest in their upkeep.